Author: kaitann

By Sara Bayat, University of Victoria As a somewhat recent innovation, 360° films are still new territory in terms of production concepts. Given the fact that the camera (or six cameras, to be more accurate) is shooting in the round, there’s little editing that can be done beyond special effects or splicing scenes together, and so the majority of the finished product must be shaped on set rather than in post-production. Simply, the footage cannot be manipulated as readily as it is in the world of conventional—a.k.a. ‘flattie’—filmmaking, and this presents challenges on multiple levels. Take, for example, the extremely low-budget short film, My McGuffin (available in all its glory here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lsa-8HhBqE), in which a man stumbles upon this newfangled 360° camera in the middle of a public square, claims it for his own, and trouble then ensues. I suggest that you watch the four-minute video before reading further, as I’m…

By Morgan Buxton for WRIT 420 Note: Sources are hyperlinked* As an adrenaline junkie, I am particularly drawn to horror films. In fact, the first thing that I did after receiving my Habor VR headset in the mail was download an app called “VR Terror 360” to my phone. From there, I spent close to two hours walking into walls and annoying my roommates by shrieking every time something startled me—walking into a monster in your living room is far freakier than having him jump out at you from your television screen. Here is what I learned from my first VR 360 experience: It’s not that bad. Virtual reality has significantly altered the classic framework of filmmaking. As a writer, this got me thinking. Virtual reality films don’t only alter the way we write movies, they alter the way we watch them. In a two-dimensional world,…

By Natasha D’Amours for WRIT 420 Cinematic VR. VR storytelling. 360° films. Whatever you call it, this new form of storytelling – this new medium – is innovative and exciting. Still in its early stages, most 360° film content is non-fiction. Which makes sense – it’s easier to forgive technology slip ups, like noticeable seams, awkward cuts and visible equipment and crew, when it comes to non-fiction. The viewer knows they’re in the real world. They don’t need to be convinced of the virtual reality. There’s no suspension of disbelief to maintain. That’s not to say that there’s only non-fiction when it comes to 360° content. More and more, people are using this new technology to tell narrative stories. They’re learning how to use the 360° technology to create seamless spherical tales: invisible seams, invisible equipment, and cuts woven into the story so skillfully that they don’t feel disorienting at…

By Rylan Gladson, University of Victoria When my mobile phone-housing “VR” headset came in the mail, I was fairly excited. I had never tried virtual reality of any sort, and my perception of it was limited to videos of people looking very silly while trying it. As with most innovations of this sort, the hype vastly outweighed the content. For the past year I had read an increasing number of articles and opinion pieces touting VR as being “the future of gaming,” or “the future of film.” Some people were calling it a new medium unto itself. But what I noticed that while a host of VR hype was flooding the internet, rarely (I can’t recall a single instance) was there hype around an actual VR game or film. It seemed that the platform itself was far more interesting than anything designed to be experienced with it, which seemed like…

By Brad Seabrook, University of Victoria I first came into contact with 360o Virtual Reality film with no expectations. After arriving, my Google Cardboard sat on the self for over two weeks until the first time I picked it up. When I did finally pick it up, it wasn’t because I wanted to, but because I had to. This lack of excitement doesn’t speak well for the brand of 360o VR. I wasn’t hearing a lot about it, and what I was hearing was negative criticism of 360o being a broken gimmick. But I am not here to talk about what others say, am I? No, but when I did first “experience” 360o, I understood the criticism. Low resolution, double vision and an unconvincing immersion was what I found… until I began to really play with it. I’m going to liken 360o VR to a talking animal movie for a…

By Kaitlyn Michaelis, University of Victoria As someone who has followed Rooster Teeth’s adventures since 2011, I’m fairly familiar with their production work and the kind of humorous content they put out. The media production company has put out more than a handful of short films, video game playthroughs, created TV mini series broadcasted through their own website (Day 5, RWBY, and Crunch Time, to name a few recent ones). When I started taking Writing 420 and learned that we were going to be making a short 360° film, Rooster Teeth uploaded a short live-action 360° film to YouTube called Kidnapped. The premise is that you are Agent X, caught in between two idiotic henchmen and their boss. You must be dispatched of, as you have come in the way of their plans. But through a comedic misinterpretation, the two bumbling henchmen take you out — an idyllic ride on…

by Brendan Lee, University of Victoria What began with childlike excitement, ended in frustration laced with venomous rage. My inaugural entrance into the virtual realm, the 360-degree, VR film, “Kidnapped”, reminded me of a certain memorable Christmas morning. It was the year 2000, I was an eight year old ball of energy, and it was finally the day! With the stocking ripped open, socks, pyjamas, and the new pair of ski mitts piled neatly on the couch, at last I opened my final gift. I peeled off the wrapping paper and immediately sprinted up the spiral staircase to my mom’s office, popped NHL 2001 into the disc drive and waited for the game to install. With the loading bar 90% filled in, an alarm pinged, and the progress halted. A message popped up on the screen and told me the computer didn’t have the proper graphics card. My older brother…

By Chandler McCorkindale, University of Victoria While doing research on 360-degree narrative films, I stumbled upon White Room: 02B3 (available for $3.99 on the App Store). I chose to write about this film because like our film currently in production, it was shot in both 360 degrees and a traditional Flattie format. In terms of the script, the film revolves around six strangers who awake seated around a table in a white room with a gun on it. Unsure of who they are, or how they got there. They only know that they are a part of an experiment that tests their ability to settle disputes with communication or conflict. This script is ideal from a 360-degree standpoint because it allows for a controlled shoot. Roddenberry Entertainment doesn’t have to worry about camera movement or positioning. They don’t have to worry about weather or natural lighting. Instead they can situate…

By Kate McCallum, University of Victoria One of the largest challenges with 360-degree filmmaking is figuring out how to successfully tell a story with the knowledge of 2d “flattie” filmmaking that can become limited within this new medium. Can filmmakers take tools such as cinematography, editing, animation, sound, and lighting and treat them the same in VR films as they would a flattie, or must they develop a new way of expressing the story within this new medium? The obvious is the latter, however the amount of integration is still to be discussed. My experience in viewing 360 films is limited and I’m definitely no expert in the topic, however the few films I have seen shy away from more stylistic elements of a flattie film. I’ve observed that these films tend to work with action in the space around the camera to move the story forward, rather than use…